"Ah, but it makes a great deal of difference, you see. It is the difference between the unknown and the unknowable, between science and fantasy– it is a matter of essence. The four points of the compass be logic, knowledge, wisdom, and the unknown. Some do bow in that final direction. Others advance upon it."
Roger Zelazny, Lord of Light

my new thing

So, after resisting it for about a year, I’ve finally decided to get a tumblr.

This is something that I’ve been thinking of doing for a while, now. I guess you could call it “Ian jumping forward into a blog type that is used by people under the age of 30”, if you were feeling cynical. Not that there’s anything wrong with WordPress– it just didn’t seem suited for what I wanted to do with Blog #2.

So, what did I want to do with the new blog? Well, I’ve always kind of fantasized about being a radio DJ/podcaster/vlogger-type person, and while I don’t have the training required to be a DJ, or the time to really maintain a podcast or a vlog, I still wanted to do something that would:

1. allow me to share some of my favorite music with the world, and

2. not take a lot of effort.

So, I decided: what takes less effort than taking a song posted on YouTube and reblogging it on Tumblr?

LAZINESS ACHIEVED!

That’s what 24-Hour Nothing Hour is about. It’s sort of my own personal radio station, where I can post the music that I like, and maybe share introduce some people to that music. I’m going to be trying to update it daily, and if you want, you can request a song from the DJ (that is, me).

Be aware, though, that 24-Hour Nothing Hour is not Axolotl Ceviche. I’m very public about who I am on Axolotl Ceviche, for one thing, and I think you all have a pretty good idea of who I am and what I’m doing with my life based on this. 24-Hour Nothing Hour is different. I won’t be talking about myself on there. I won’t be sharing my thoughts on things, or stuff that happened in my day-to-day life, or any of my writing. That’s not what 24-Hour Nothing Hour is about. It’s not about me, but the incredible music, and I’m going to reflect that in the writing style that I use there. I tend to be snarky and rambly on Axolotl Ceviche. On 24-Hour Nothing Hour, I’m going to be much more terse and laconic, reflecting the more anonymized style that I’m going to be using there.

Axolotl Ceviche’s not going anywhere, of course. Axolotl Ceviche and 24-Hour Nothing Hour are both two very different side projects, and it wouldn’t make sense for me to turn one into the other. If anything, I’ll probably be posting fewer YouTube videos of songs and things on Axolotl Ceviche. I got pretty annoyed with myself for doing that over the last few months, because it felt like I wasn’t saying anything. So now, I can just post those videos to 24-Hour Nothing Hour, where I don’t have to say anything. Because, after all, that’s not the point.

Go and check it out if you like. I’ve already posted a song there (The Stone Roses’ “I Wanna Be Adored”), and there’s probably going to be many more coming.

In any case, it’s a new thing. And new things are important, if you want to live an interesting life.